Haze leads to flight cancellations in Indonesia

PALEMBANG — The haze in South Sumatra, Indonesia, has caused several flights to be cancelled or delayed to and from the region, reported the Jakarta Post today (Oct 13).

This afternoon, Indonesia’s Transport Ministry said that flights to and from the Sultan Thaha Airport in Jambi and the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang were cancelled as a result of today’s haze. Fourteen flights departing from the Palembang airport yesterday also faced delays, as visibility dropped to 100m.

“Airlines like Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, Lion Air, and Sriwijaya Air have officially informed (state-run airport operator) Angkasa Pura II that they will cancel all of their flights from and to Sultan Thaha Airport today,” Transport Ministry spokesman J A Barata was reported as saying.

Meanwhile, an Air Asia flight originating from Malaysia was unable to land in Palembang yesterday and was redirected to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

According to the health agency in Palembang, 20,157 patients suffered from acute respiratory infections in the city last month, reported The Jakarta Post. This was up by around 2,000 from August.

Mr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia national disaster mitigation agency, told Bloomberg that the Air Pollution Standards index in Sumatra has gone up to 240, or “very unhealthy” levels. He added that 153 hot spots have been found across Sumatra, with 144 of them in South Sumatra.

But the haze is unlikely to reach Singapore, Mr Sutopo told The Jakarta Post, as South-west winds were weak at around 9-28km/h.

According to the latest haze forecast by Singapore’s National Environmental Agency, prevailing winds are expected to be light and variable in direction tomorrow. The overall air quality should be in the high-end of the moderate range but may enter the low end of the unhealthy range from time to time should winds turn unfavourable.

Sources: The Jakarta Post, Bloomberg